ין XI. INTRODUC TORY RE Sharp was not only particularly inftrumental in bringing this CHA P. important cause to a decifion; but took care that every oppreffed negro, whofe cafe came to his knowledge, fhould enjoy the benefit of it; for 'many negroes, illegally confined, in MARKS. order to be clandeftinely conveyed to the West Indies and America, have since owed their deliverance to Mr. Sharp's active and fpirited interpofition. In fhort, many years before Dr. Smeathman proposed, or probably conceived, his plan, Mr. Sharp's exertions and writings, had distinguished him as the fteady affertor of the ancient, noble, unfophisticated principles of the constitution of his country, and the indefatigable benefactor of the Africans, and of the poor and those who had none to help them." 66 331. Thefe obfervations are not the vile flourishes of a fycophant's pen. By every friend to the cause I have the honour to support, they will readily be allowed to contain nothing but literal truth; and Mr. Sharp ought not to be furprised, that merit like his has become known, notwithflanding his ingenuous endeavours to conceal it; for, I am perfuaded, he looks not for his reward from men. Neither are cation with the mother country was comparatively infrequent-as would appear Another thefe 6 CHA P. thefe obfervations made with a view to detract from the reXI. spect due to the memory of Dr. Smeathman, who will ever be gratefully remembered by the friends of Africa, as the man who first laid down a specific plan for it's civilization, and supported it with exertions which, in 1787, caufed, or accelerated, his diffolution*. For, on his return from Sierra Leona, finding the "Committee for relieving the black poort," already formed, he appears to have most zealously co-operated with them, as well as with Mr. Sharp, and to have laboured to derive from their benevolence, fupport to his grand defign of civilizing Africa ‡. * Mr. Heathcote, a gentleman who was well acquainted with the late Dr. Smeathman, has been fo obliging as to promife me a feries of obfervations on the thermometer made by Dr. S. while on the Coast, and which, if I receive them in time, shall be inferted in the Appendix, after the names of the Subfcribers to the Bulama undertaking. + That committee confifted of the following gentleman, viz, Jonas Hanway, Esq. Chairman; Montague Burgoyne, Efq. Harley ft. B. Johnson, Efq. Liffon Green; Sir Jofeph Andrews, Bart. Knightsbridge; George Peters, Efq. Old Bethlem; John Ofborne, Efq. New Norfolk ft. J. J. Angerftein, Efq. Albemarle ft. J. P. Andrews, Esq. Brompton; S. Hoare, Efq. Lombard ft. G. Drake, Efq. Bedford Sq. F. Matthews, Efq, Bridge ft. Westminster; W. Ward, Efq. Fenchurch ft. Richard Shaw, Efq. London Bridge; J. Cornwall, Efq. Portland Place; S. Thornton, Esq. M. P. King's Arm's Yard; H. Thornton, Esq. M.P. Bartholomew lane; T. Boddington, Efq. Mark lane; General Melville, Brewer ft. ↑ In 1771, that able geographer, Alexander Dalrymple, Esq. drew up a plan for promoting civilization, by fitting out ships to convey useful animals and vegetables to New Zealand and other remote regions, which are still deftitute of many important productions, to which their respective soils and climates are undoubtedly congenial. The propofer generously offered to take upon himself the command of the firft fhip which should be equipped for such an expedition, the whole expense of which he estimated, at £15,000,➡a small demand from humanity on the wealth accumulated by commerce! The celebrated Dr. Franklin, being informed of this benevolent scheme, wrote a paper to recommend it, which was printed and circulated with Mr. D's plan and eftimate. It is mortifying to add, that this proposal, so refpectable in it's origin, so moderate in it's means and so beneficent in it's end, did not receive the support it merited. But the difcerning editors of the Annual Register faw it's value, and inferted it among the "Useful Projects,” in their volume for 1779, under the title of "Plan by Dr. Franklin and Mr. Dalrymple for benefiting distant, unprovided countries." This philanthropic hint seems, however, to have had fome weight with Dr. F's own countrymen, for in the year 1787, an expedition was fitted out at the expense of several gentlemen in Boston, in North America, for the laudable purpose of difcovering channels of liberal commerce, and conciliating civil intercourse with the natives of the great south western coast of that continent, of which the medal, at the end of this work, is a memorial, and was distributed, in filver and copper, among the natives for that purpose. XI. ONA. Comm. for relieving the black poor. 332. Respect and gratitude are also justly due to thofe CHA P. worthy perfons who, before Dr. Smeathman proposed his plan, had formed themselves into the Committee SIERRA LE juft mentioned. But the defign of fending them to Sierra Leona appears to have been the suggestion of Dr. S. The memory of the chairman of that Committee will long be revered; and some of the other members (for I have not the honour of knowing them all) have fince invariably acted the part of generous, enlightened and confcientious promoters of the abolition of the flave-trade, and the civilization of Africa. I allude particularly to the Meff. Thorntons and Mr. Samuel Hoare. The following is an Abridgment of the Report of the Court of Directors of the Sierra Leona Company to the General Court, held at London, on the 19th of Cctober, 1791. Edit. 2*. 333. In pursuance of the Act of Parliament incorporating the SIERRA LEONA COMPANYt, the following thirteent gentlemen have been chosen Directors for the present year. (viz. the year commencing on the 19th of October, 1791.) HENRY THORNTON, Efq. M. P. Chairman. PHILIP SANSOM, Efq. Dep. Chairm. WILL. WILLBERFORCE, Efq. M. P. JOHN KINGSTON, Efq. The next General Court, held on the 30th of Nov. 1791, resolved that £50,000 should be added to the £100,000 capital already subscribed for, (see § 354, note.) At the fame time, feveral Refolutions were paffed to regulate the recommendations of, and the ballots for, the new subscribers. An Abridgment of those Resolutions will be inferted in the Appendix, after the lift of the original subScribers to the S. Leona Company, with which it is connected. † An Abridgment of this act will be inferted at the end of the Appendix. C'H A' P. SIERRA LE ONA. Their mor tality. 334. In 1786, the humanity of fome gentlemen was excited towards the diftreffed blacks, who then swarmed in London* Above 400 of them, along with 60 whites, mostly women of bad character and in ill health, (fee § 301) were accordingly fent out, at the charge of government, to Sierra Leona. Neceffity, it was hoped, would make them induftrious and orderly; and Capt. Thompson of the navy, who conducted them, obtained, for their use, a grant of land to His Majesty, from King Tom, the neighbouring chief, and afterwards, from Naimbanna, the king of the country. This land, being about zo miles fquare, His Majesty was en-. abled to grant by Act of Parliament (1791) to the Sierra Leona Company; and it was confirmed by a direct grant from King Naimbanna. 335. From the diforders they brought on board with them, aggravated by debauchery and confinement, these people became very fickly, during their long detention in the British Channel, as well as during their passage, and after their arrival. They were landed in the wet season, unprovided with proper fhelter, without order and without industry. From these causes 50 died before they left Plymouth, and 34 at fea; 15 ran away and 86 died on the coast, in the first four months after their arrival. After the first year, however, there was no great mortality +. It was * Respecting the first rudiments of the colony, the distinguished support it received from Mr. Sharp, the character of the original colonists, &c. I have been fortunate enough to collect several authentic circumstances, which, being too long for a foot note, I intend to infert in the Appendix, together with fome other particulars, marking them NOTE A, NOTE B, &c. For, I far, that, if placed at the foot of the page, careless readers might mistake them for notes of the Directors. See, in the Appendix, "Notes, &c. refpecting S. Leona and Bulama." NOTE B. + Immediately after the prefent S. Leona Company was formed, Dr. J. Bell, at the request of Mr. H. Thornton, the Chairman of the Court of Directors, drew up a tract entitled "General Di-. rections for the Prefervation of Health, &c. for the benefit of the settlers at Sierra Leona, printed by J. Phillips, 1791." and which was very properly distributed among the colonists. XI. SIERRALE- even said by one Green, who was in England in 1791, and C H A P. who always lived with them, that in the two fuccceding he did not think above five or fix died, out of near years, 200, living in the fame town. By very flight tillage, and a vaft increase of poultry, these settlers, though far from being industrious, maintained themselves, and poffeffed a small and increasing property, when a circumstance, not neceffary to be detailed, entirely dispersed them, to the number of their difper180 or 200, who left their plantations and a great quantity of poultry *. 336. Mr. Falconbridge, who arrived about a year after, found 48 of them living together. But fome had gone to the W. Indies, others to England, and the rest feared they would all be made flaves. Mr. F. brought them to Fora Bay, about a mile and a half from their former townt. Sixteen foon joined them from other parts.-Before Mr. F. left them, (in June 1791) they had cleared and planted about four English acres of land; and, on the whole, he thought they would fupport themselves, as before their dif perfion, with very little labour. Of thofe 64 fettlers, 39 were black men, 19 black women, and 6 white women. The men feemed determined to defend themselves, were warmly attached to the society who sent them out, but still in general turbulent and disorderly. fion. 337. The climate is much the fame, in point of heat, as Climate. that of the West Indies; but there is a very cool fea-breeze * See in the Append. Notes, &c. refpecting S. Leona and Bulama, NOTE C. + See in the Append. Notes, &c. refpe&ting S. Leona and Bulama, NOTE D. |